Split Second Seperation
by The Sweetest Venom
Summary: There is a theory out there that there is a universe for any choice you make. In this universe, motion was set in place to make the Nine Tailed Demon Fox a father. What happens when the Naruto Universe is altered with a simplified time-line and Kurama connection with things that are not dead or dying? under re-write; RAW STORY
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: What if the Kyuubi had children? This is my attempt to simplify the Naruto universe. More or less, imagine it as a simplfied AU. I will try to use things only brought up by the first half of the series. If an organization or person was not at least implied to exist in the first half of the manga, they probably won't show up and their loose ends will be tied up accordingly.

* * *

Once upon a time, there was a wonderful land known as the Country of Fire. Within the Country of Fire was the Village Hidden by Leaves. This village had a very special man leading it. He was a blonde wonder boy, the Fourth Hokage. His name was Minato Namikaze. He had recently taken a week vacation with his wife, who was roughly nine months pregnant. They desired to get away from the pressures of leading the Leaf people, but promised to return shortly. While he was away, a man named Danzo was left in charge. Danzo cared deeply for the people, but was concerned mostly with his personal pride.

But, that is not where our story takes place. Within the Uchiha compound, several Leaf police officers waited in the Department Headquarters, devising a plan. Recently, about ten women had gone missing. They ranged from simple civilians who could have been snatched by anything that escaped from the Forest of Death to even one jounin kuniochi, a Nara. Everyone was in a bit of an uproar over the absence of the women, so the Uchiha men knew they would have to work furiously to track down the women.

Beyond the main city but still within the barriers of the village was a single cave. A man cloaked and masked traveled through the night, eyes red with a stolen power. He had infiltrated the village during the festivities arranged to prepare for the birth of the Hokage's first born. The man moved toward the cave, following the sense of a woman whose abilities he had briefly stolen. The cloaked man wondered what her wonder boy husband would do as soon as the child was born and the man would be free to track this stranger down.

The man stopped at the mouth of the cave, waves of chakra rolling gently from within the cavern. The chakra was demonic, riddled with desperation and something vile. The outcast stepped in, walking carefully among the naked bodies of women. His target slept among them. The masked man kicked spitefully at the sleeping creature.

The creature awoke, super compressed form expanding a bit as it registered the threat the man before him posed. "Madara!" the orange beast called out, only to pause. "No, not Madara… almost." All the same, the orange beast lunged at the man, the two of them hurdling outside the cave and down a slight slope.

The man grinned beneath his mask. "The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox… don't you think it's time to listen to someone of your master's bloodline again, hm?" The man's red eyes span, sharingan possessing the orange beast. The beast stepped off the masked man, standing still. The masked man looked toward the delighted village. "Kill them all."

The fox obeyed, shifting into his full form and pouncing toward the village with full intentions of completely destroying the place.

* * *

What happened that day was altered for book history of future generations of ninja within the Leaf Village. The story of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox went as so: the fox is a beast drawn from anger. Thus, it sensed feels of discontent and was drawn to the village randomly as a result. Their brave leader, the Fourth Hokage, defeated the monster in battle only to succumb to his wounds later.

Sadly, the tale did not end there. Upon discovering the cave, the police officers found the missing women. All were found pregnant, most assuming that the father was the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Most of the women had an abortion just in case, unwilling to bear a half-demon child. Only two women declined, unsure if the child was their husband's or the fox's, and trusting that the child would be born holding the good nature of the village rather than the monster that had plagued it once.


	2. Chapter 2

"Circle, Burst," called a dark voice. It was the current ANBU leader, one Nagato. He stared down at the two youngest members of the exclusive branch. Though he knew who they really were, he was pleased to see they firmly wore their masks. The eleven-year-olds stood firm in his presence. "You are to befriend one Naruto Uzumaki," Nagato said simply. "You recall our briefings of his history and his persona, correct? Recently, a chunin named Mizuki has attempted to kill him and has caused Naruto doubt over his place within our village." Nagato closed his eyes, rinnegan shielded. "We cannot allow that to happen. Naruto his heart is pure and his ambitions are simple. To say it bluntly, he is the child dreamed of since before even the demons were born. Your mission is to see to it that his is comforted and encouraged."

Both masked children nodded, bowing before disappearing.

"Konohamaru, women don't look like that!" Naruto whined, plopping down despondently on the log they had decided to set up show up. "At this rate, you'll never beat that old geezer!"

"Shut up!" Konohamaru yelled, allowing the transformation to drop so he could return to his true self. He thought over his proptions again, musing how difficult it was to find a balance between behemoth and twig. "I'll try again," he dejectedly exclaimed before his rumbling tummy objected. "After a snack." He went over to the vending machine not so far away without a word from his mentor.

Naruto shook his head. "The kid's spunky kind of hopeless though."

"Hello!"

Naruto whirled around, losing his balance in the process and falling on his back. He looked up, seeing a girl about his age with dark skin and white hair. She looked to be civilian rather than a ninja. "Hi," he responded while getting up. He brushed himself off while greeting. "Naruto Uzumaki. Who're you?" he inquired, pointing rudely at her.

The girl giggled into her hand, batting her eye lashes. "I'm Hikari Minamoto," she said sweetly. "I heard about that really cool thing you did the other day."

"Really?" Naruto piped up, not at all used to having so many people become interested in him within one day. "How'd you find out?"

She giggled into her sleeve again, yellow eyes clashing with his own blue. Naruto wished Sakura would act this way with him. "I guess you could say I'm your biggest fan," 'Hikari' replied faux-cutely.

"Hey! Master Naruto!" Konohamaru shouted, returning just now. "Who's the girl?"

The girl held out a hand to Konohamaru, attempting a modern style of greeting. "It's an honor to meet you, honorable grandson."

Konohamaru's face wrinkled out of disgust. "Ugh!" he grunted, turning on heel and walking away. "My name is Konohamaru!"

Naruto put his palm to his forehead as Konohamaru walked off. "We're not done with training!" he finally yelled after, beginning to jog after his so called pupil. He paused, looking back to his new 'fan'. "Sorry, Hikari! Talk to ya' later!" Naruto then ran after Konohamaru.

As Naruto ran off, Hikari continued to look dejected until she sensed no one else was in the area. She then huffed. "Darn it! And I thought we were getting somewhere!"

"It could have been the stupid name," a boy said, whipping a board leaf off his forehead. "You suck at aliases."

"Because Ryoga Isatake is an excellent name," she responded with disdain. "He remembers it, so that's all that matters." She shuddered. "It would be awkward if we had to force a relationship out of this."

'Ryoga' nodded. "Speaking of awkward, want to head back? Civilian garb is foreign."

Over the next few weeks, 'Ryoga' and 'Hikari' took advantage of their superior tracking abilities to set up situations to befriend Naruto in. Slowly but surely, they gained the boy's acceptance and even his friendship.

After a particularly challenging day of maintaining Naruto's happiness and thus his position within the village along with whatever else madness ANBU leader Nagato had come up with, the duo decided to go visit the KIA rock.

'Hikari' searched the rock until she found the satisfactory name. She produced a small stone, a tiny pearl, and put it on top of the rock while admiring the name. Mika Nara was a woman 'Hikari' wished she could have known better. 'Hikari's mother was Mika, though Mika died while giving birth to 'Hikari'. Having been taken in by the village's shadow society, 'Hikari' never really had a chance to get to know her Nara family. They were aware of 'Hikari' by the vaguest of terms because they knew Mika had been pregnant and had given birth, but either didn't care or were not allowed to know what became of the baby. No one said much of 'Hikari's father, so she could only assume he was traitorous or unworthy of being recognized. She wondered sometimes if they had divorced prior to her birth over Mika not aborting 'Hikari'.

'Ryoga' did the same with a sliver of jade, looking upon two names instead. He looked upon the name of his uncle, Gyasto Yoma, and his mother, Yamako Yoma. 'Ryoga' had known his mother, though his uncle died in the initial Nine-Tails attack. His mother had died shortly after his second birthday, killed on a mission he often suspected was merely a trap. He, too, was taken in by the shadow society of the Leaf Village.

Together, the half siblings were raised as members of the ANBU corps.

"You wonder if they look down on us and frown?' 'Ryoga' asked as they admired the multifaceted memorial. He looked over the rock. Magpies and crows would always steal the stones they left after the two ninja had gone, but he could not help but perform this habit. The duo were often given high commissions from their missions, which were usually exotic in nature. More than once they had been paid in coral jewelry by a tribe of people who used no paper money.

'Hikari' knew that 'Ryoga' was referencing the violent, slightly hedonistic lives the two of them led. They were partially fox, after all. It was in their nature to live on the wild side. "Sometimes," she admitted. She smiled softly all the same. "Say, how about we go visit that nice restaurant we found last week? The one with all the tofu and bean dishes?"

'Ryoga' chuckled. "I could go for some fried tofu and adzuki bean soup."

'Hikari' nodded. "I want silk tofu. Let's split the soup; we never finish it all."

The redhaired boy nodded to his equally dark skinned sister. The two of them walked away from the monument quietly, unwilling to completely ruin the sacred ground with running.

"This is delicious," 'Hikari' cooed as she dug her spoon into the silk tofu. It was drenched in soy sauce and had a cute little cucumber slices shaped like flower petals on it. "I normally don't eat vegetables on these, but you're right: traditional is better."

"It is," 'Ryoga' breathed out, responding to both comments at once. He blinked, then grabbed his sister's hand. "Hey, don't look now, but your cousin and uncle just walked in." He kept up the appearance of pleasant conversation, smile never once faltering. He released her hand as the duo walked past, popping a triangle of fried tofu into his mouth.

'Hikari's heart panged, but she obeyed and ignored the two as they walked past. She was jealous that her cousin, Shikamaru Nara, could eat with his father so casually. "Let's hurry," she grumbled, quickly shoveling her meal into her mouth. "I refuse to witness this." She never stopped smiling. Her training required full dedication while doing things pertaining to the mission. Right now, she was not herself-she was Hikari Minamoto and Hikari had no reason to dislike or become jealous of Shikamaru Nara. She silently wondered when she would get to be herself, Mitsu the field fox, and when her brother would get to be Hoshi field fox.

Hoshi obeyed, keeping up the facade.


	3. Chapter 3

"It's Naruto!" Mitsu sang out, pulling a faux-unwilling Hoshi behind her. It was all part of the game. "Naruto, hi!" She ran up to him, spying the team he was with this time. This was excellent. They could ally themselves with all of the team, making themselves ideal confidants for Naruto due to this.

"Eh?" Naruto asked, looking away from Sakura and Sasuke to greet Mitsu. "Hey, Hikari! Nice to see you again." He tugged on Sakura's sleeve. "Sakura, this is Hikari. I told you about her. She's nice, but not as nice as you."

Mitsu held her hand out, daintily shaking hands with the Haruno girl. From what she had read on this one's file, Sakura was a bit of a brainy one and therefore someone they would have to put extra effort into the fa ade for. "Nice to meet you, Sakura!" She tugged on Hoshi in turn, who was playing his role of stubbornness quite well. "Ryoga, we promised ourselves to meet Naruto's other friends, remember?"

"But, what if they're bores?" Hoshi grumbled, rehearsed as always. He looked over Sakura in a judging manner before taking on an approving glance. "Naruto, you didn't tellme Sakura was so pretty." When Sakura flushed, Hoshi wiggled his eyebrows.

"Hey, Ryoga, she's off limits," Naruto whined.

"Naruto," Sakura interrupted, "won't you introduce Sasuke?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, lifting an arm to point in Sasuke's general direction. "Hikari, Ryoga, meet Sasuke." He crossed his arms, pouting. "There."

Sasuke, still a distance off, rolled his own eyes. He paused, looking over the similar ninja. "Are you two related?"

"No," Mitsu blurted, willing her words to sound offended rather than lying. "What! We're both dark skinned so you assume we're related?"

Hoshi joined in, turning the tables against Sasuke's sharp eyes. "Yeah, what are you? Racis-"

"No!" Sasuke hissed, cutting them off. He walked over, eyes avoiding their falsified anger to try and keep the atmosphere calm. "You're similar. It seemed reasonable."

Mitsu figured Hikari should give in first, being the damsel in distress type. "We get that a lot, actually. I think we spend so much time together we may have learned how to loan bits of ourselves to the other." She teasingly poked Hoshi. "Right, Ryoga?"

Playing an angry creature, Ryoga batted her finger away. "It's an excuse, but I'll take it." He held out his hand for Sasuke to shake. "I guess it's nice to meet you. Just don't bore me, okay?"

" " Sasuke took Hoshi's hand, squeezing it a bit. Hoshi, figuring Sasuke was the type used to being alpha male, gave in before realizing Sasuke's grip actually was a bit stronger than his own.

Hoshi cursed his fox lineage for a weaker grip.

"I guess it is nice to meet you," Sasuke finally replied, cocky to have caused Hoshi some pain.

Naruto looked between Hoshi and Sasuke, sensing the animosity. "Let's have a three way battle!" he suggested. Well, more like ordered but he sadly couldn't make everyone listen to him.

Hoshi consented, figuring he could gauge Naruto's ability to protect himself this way. "Okay." Hoshi, sore both in character and as his true self, grimaced at Sasuke. "No going to chicken out, are you?"

"Hardly," Sasuke replied. The three boys shared a certain look before dashing off, leaving Mitsu and Sakura alone.

Mitsu flipped her hair, which was shorter than Sakura's the half-fox noted bitterly. "Hey, you wanna go shopping? I've been dying to spend some of my mission commissions."

Sakura nodded, growing excited. "Oh my gosh, I know that feeling! Let's run by my house so I can pick up my purse!" Sakura took Mitsu's hand, leading her through the streets to the city.

Mitsu's bed was comfortable, she noted. Even if it was highly monitored and where she was to stay in the ANBU compound, it was nice. Most other agents had a life beyond the organization, but not her and her brother. They, more or less, belonged to the village. She thought of things other than this as she flipped through a gossip magazine; Lady Tsunade was announcing her soon to happen return to Konohagakure, apparently to meet up with her long lost friend Jirayia. "Oh?" Mitsu inquired.

"Hey," Hoshi murmured as he entered their shared room, flopping onto his own bed. He had a black eye, one that he would not be allowed to super-charge heal away as both Sasuke and Naruto had noticed it and it would raise suspicion if he suddenly lacked it. He rested for a moment as his sister looked over him. "They're actually really good if they work as a team. Naruto's a heavy hitter, but that Uchiha kid could trick a dog off a meat truck."

"Isn't the saying 'talk a dog off a meat truck'?"

"Same difference," he bit back.

Mitsu chuckled, flipping the page and reading about the scandalous dating photos of one Asuma Senju and his beautiful lady friend Kurenai. "That's what you get for being cocky."

Hoshi threw a pillow at his sister. "Shut up."

Hoshi lowered himself to the stone flooring, narrow pupils within yellow irises scanning the room, not moving as he watched his sister mirror him. Today was training day, particularly for taijutsu. Both were matched in genjutsu and ninjutsu, so this was well enough. They could never get enough of building muscle.

The boy spotted an opening and took it. He launched himself forward, rocketing on all fours. His clawed hands touched her shoulders, pushing her torso into the ground as his whiskers twitched. He quickly jumped to his feet, heels on her shoulder blades. Ignoring his half-sibling's pain, he jumped off her and rebounded off a wall just in time for her to return to her feet.

Mitsu berated herself as she worked this to her advantage. She turned to face him, claws yanking onto his jacket as his foot imbedded itself in her stomach. She tossed him up and jumped after him, meeting in the air in a battle of claws. Mitsu managed to land on top of Hoshi, foot on his head to pin him down. After he patted the ground three times, she let him get up.

Hoshi got up, dusting himself off. Both he and his sister cut off their chakra supply, causing their bodies to adapt by suppressing their foxy traits. "Hey, weren't we going to spy on your cousin today?"

Mitsu thought about it; this was a tradition they held once a month. "I don't know," she muttered, considering what all could happen. She always backed out, which was also tradition. She never really got up her nerve to actually pursue a relationship with her Nara family. She sighed, lapsing into familiar routine. "I wish we could spy on your family instead, Hoshi. Your mother was so accepting."

Hoshi nodded. "Yeah, I really wish Mom was still alive. I read about her. She had apparently been trying to adopt you at the time of her death." They shared a moment of mourning. "We could have lived normal lives."

"Would we have lived normal lives?" Mitsu asked, smiling sadly. "We would still be half-fox, Hoshi. Nothing would change that except for us not being born."

"Then I wish for a world where it would have been impossible for us to have been born!" Hoshi shouted, tears falling from his eyes. He bit his lip, willing them to go away. He imagined a world where they had not been born, where the Leaf Village's ANBU was not led by Nagato, where the Akatsuki was not merely the name for the original members of the ANBU, where where Hoshi didn't suffer so.

"And what good would that do?" Mitsu patted her brother, pulling him into a hug as she, too, cried. The universe in which they did not exist-what was it like? Was it better?

As the siblings slept that night, they suddenly awoke in a cold sweat, trembling. Instinctively, they pressed the panic button of their room, causing Konan to enter their room.

"What is it?" she asked simply, having acted as their nurse maid since Jirayia suggested the job to her upon the birth of the hybrids.

Hoshi spoke first. "I had a dream. I dreamed Naruto was suffering and that there was red clouding him. A deep voice spoke. It said, 'I did not expect children. Do you hate me much?'."

"What does that mean, Miss Konan?" Mitsu asked, slightly terrified.

Konan placed her hand on Mitsu's head. "I think I know. Rest. I must go talk to some others about the matter of a foreign mission. Don't worry. If the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox contacted you, Naruto is most certainly still alive." As Konan exited their room, locking them back in for the night, the two children exchanged a look.

Naruto had been in danger? Was he on a mission? They wanted to go help, but knowing they would be allowed to do no such thing, they merely tried to drift off into sleep again.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Mitsu sat in the ANBU headquarters, in deep trouble. Her sessions with Sasuke had been discovered. Both she and the boy were in serious trouble. She sat in a cell across from him. He was still fuming. She didn't understand why. It was his own stupid fault they had gotten caught-he shouldn't have used his sharingan like that.

The ANBU leader arrived. He looked between the two, lion mask intimidating as always. "We've come to a conclusion." He stood before Sasuke's cell, glaring down at the boy. "From this day forward, Sasuke Uchiha is a member of the ANBU." He slammed a hand on his cell door. "However, you will continue to put on the charade of being a genin. You will go with your regular team to the Chunin Exams. After that, you will be ranked up, then ranked up again, just to keep pretense." The leader didn't wait for Sasuke to agree. He walked over to Mitsu's cell. "Mitsu, as your punishment, while Hoshi gets a month off, you are to begin training Sasuke for the ANBU. You are also to trail him in the Exams to make sure he does not let our secrets slip." The ANBU leader then clicked a heel, both doors opening. "Dismissed."

Mitsu and Sasuke sat in the middle of a clearing, panting. Well, Sasuke was panting. Mitsu, having forbidden him to use sharingan as that wouldn't work on everyone, was smirking. She had a big advantage over him in the taijutsu and genjutsu department, though his ninjutsu outranked her own. She sat much like a fox would, squatting. Her fox form wasn't even activated yet. She was suddenly grateful her own ANBU captain had forced her and her brother into such harsh training. It was all worth it for this delicious bit of revenge right here.

Sasuke got up, trembling from exhaustion. It was nearing dusk. Sasuke was aware that, if she activated her fox form, come darkness, Mitsu would have a huge advantage over himself. He had to defeat her before then. He watched where she sat, proud and grinning. He was eager to wipe that smirk off her face. He calculated her shifts in movement, gauging her balance. She was lightweight, he concluded. If he could actually get her off her feet or just ram her, he was certain he could begin a chain reaction of pain for her. He reached into his kunai pouch as she shifted, on the defensive. He had two kunai left, but at least four waited just behind Mitsu embedded in a tree. He pulled one out, poising it carefully before throwing it down to where her feet were.

She took the bait, jumping up and into the air, landing lightly on a tree before jumping over to where Sasuke had been. Her eyes widened as she saw him rush to pick up the kunai that were embedded into the tree, throwing them at her again. Sadly, she could not change her position mid-air, so she was force to activate her fox form and bring out her chakra coat, allowing the two chakra tails to catch two kunai, but the other two landed in the fat of her arm. "Augh!"

Sasuke rushed over, reaching carefully just outside the chakra layer to grab both kunai by their circular handles. He got out metal wire, whipping it around Mitsu's hands to hold her still at a distance. "Bark," he ordered, smirking at her this time.

She growled a bit, stepping back. Her whiskers twitched as she attempted to step away, but found Sasuke weighed more than her. She could drag him around, but with how her hands were tied, she couldn't do much. She narrowed her eyes, willing both her chakra tails to shift the position of the kunai they had been holding to wield them as proper knives. "Bite me," she retorted. With that, she trust them forward, attempting to stab Sasuke and force him to let her go.

He parried them away, two kunai in one hand and moving quickly. He activated his sharingan, needing it to predict her movements. Luckily for Mitsu, he was busy with her tails and could not control her via eye contact. He finally found an opening, pulling her close and extending his hand with two kunai, fingers just outside the glow of her chakra coat but both kunai on either pressing ever so lightly into her dark skin just above her veins. If he wanted to, he could have made her bleed. "Match set?"

Mitsu narrowed her eyes, fox features fading and her legs, face, and hands returning to normal. "Match set," she responded angrily. Sasuke took the metal wire off her wrists, which she quickly rubbed to tend to the bleeding. They would heal quicker than an average human, but she didn't want to waste chakra on something that would heal anyway. She began to walk away. "See you tomorrow," she muttered. What an ungrateful brat he was, she thought, as he walked away without a reply. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

She was dressed in full ANBU uniform, black as the night with a white fox mask with a star marking. 'Burst' sat in a tree, carefully masked by a simple camouflage technique. She kept her eyes on Naruto's team, following them silently. So far, they had done pretty well to have been attacked once. However, three new ninja attacked them. Mitsu made a tough choice. Stay and protect Sasuke, which was one of her objectives, or follow her first mission to protect Naruto? She went with her gut, following Naruto.

Only him, she mentally hissed as she saw him trying to avoid being eaten by a giant snake. She waited until she saw he was able to escape the snake, then rushed in, activating her fox form only slightly to extend her claws through her open finger gloves. She latched onto the snake's mouth claws digging between scales. She furiously began scraping as the snake thrashed, swallowing Naruto. She entered the Snake's flesh, crawling around as blood flowed. She reached its jaw hinge, enhancing her strength to break off the snake's jaw. Half of the snake's jaw came off and she quickly burrowed through its flesh, also entering its mouth where she heard the muffled cry of Naruto. She slid down the snake's throat to where she smelled Naruto in the darkness.

"Calm down!" she hissed.

"What? Mitsu?" Naruto asked, unable to see her and at once regretting talking as snake bile entered his mouth. He felt a hand grab his and then the ringing hollow of a jutsu being used. Soon, there was a tunnel of light and Mitsu was pulling him through, both of them falling until she latched onto the snake's side again, claws digging into the creature's scales.

"I wasn't briefed on giant snakes," Mitsu muttered before grunting. "Naruto! You're kind of heavy!"

He nodded. "Hold on." He let go of her, causing Mitsu to panick and dive after him, further activating her fox form so that she could create a small chakra coat. She dove to the ground first, softening her blow with chakra, prepared to catch him. However, she was greeted with hundreds of clones avoiding landing on her. He grinned, though she wasn't sure if this was the real Naruto or not. "Let's kill it," Naruto said as the snake thrashed, unable to swallow anything with a broken jaw.

Mitsu nodded, running back up the snake as Naruto assaulted it from all sides. She ran onto is head, moving around to avoid getting squished between it and a tree as it thrashed. She soon clawed into its eye, burrowing deeply. The snake struggled for a moment more before it fell still, crushing a few clones of Naruto's as the true Naruto let them all puff away, awaiting for Mitsu to move.

"Mitsu?"

Mitsu burst from the snake's other eye, gasping desperately. She crawled out, slimy. Her mask was stained with a variety of different fluids, as was her uniform and Naruto as well. They shared a look before she pointed in a certain direction. "Your team." Something fishy was going on here. Chunin Exams be damned. She had a mission to complete. As she and Naruto began running in the direction that Naruto had last seen his teammates, Mitsu spoke turned on her headset and spoke into it. "Headquarters! Misu reporting in. Encountered a tree-sized serpent. Information? Over."

As they rushed through the forest, headquarters returned back. "Headquarters reporting in. There should be no such beasts of that size in the forest. Sending in backup. Alerting the proctors. Keep ward Naruto safe. Over."

"Crap," Mitsu mutterd, smelling both a man and a snake on the wind, but what really scared her was the strong chakra signature of the person. "Naruto! Be on your guard!" There was another giant snake, this one chasing Sasuke and Sakura. "Get your friends!" Mitsu ordered descending from the tree tops to tackle the snake. She moved her mask up slightly, revealing her fangs. She latched onto the snake, sending huge amounts of thermo-energy into the snake's blood, effectively boiling it alive. Where as Hoshi was wind and electricity, Mitsu was wind and fire. Together, they formed all of the powers foxes were fabled to have. The snake thrashed, puking out a man as Naruto stood before Sasuke and Sakura, Sasuke getting up to help defend their team.

"Well," the man muttered, getting up in the most unnatural way possible.

Mitsu adjusted her mask hiding her lower lips as the snake fell to the ear, herself hopping off onto another branch. She stared at the man as his gaze met hers. She growled loudly, attempting to scare him off.

"Never would have thought I'd be lucky enough to met a fox kit," he mused before looking over to where Team Seven was.

"Fight someone your own level!" Mitsu roared before activating her fox form again, light red glow overtaking her form and chakra tails forming.

Sakura's eyes widened. "What what's that?"

Sasuke looked over to Sakura as Mitsu leaped across to engage in Orochimaru, who was obviously over her level but being given a fair run for his money. "An ally," he said simply.

"No one here is on my level," Orochimaru chimed as he avoided all of Mitsu's attacks. The most she had managed to hit was the end of his hair. They had no idea who he was, truthfully-he appeared to just be a scary grass ninja with lots of snakes. He reveled in their ignorance, relishing the rush he got of knowing he was above the level of the child of a Tailed Beast. Orochimaru grew tired with her, however, and dismissed her with a punch that sent her rocketing toward Team Seven's branch.

Sakura got up, catching their "ally". She skidded back, almost toppling over from both the pain and the speed gained from catching Mitsu.

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look as Mitsu attempted to recover. The female quickly got off Sakura, who just realized the glow off Mitsu had burned her slightly, a light dusting of heat and ashes being her reward.

"We've got to help!" Naruto all but roared at Sasuke.

Sasuke shook his head. "He's way over our heads. We should just give up our scroll."

Mitsu stood up, shaking slightly. "I don't think he wants your scroll," she said. She bent over as Orochimaru waited on them, amused by the whole vent. She got an incoming report from headquarters as Sasuke and Naruto argued over whether or not they should fight Orochimaru.

"Mitsu! Headquarters reporting in. Back up is nearing you. Do not engage any more snakes! Repeat! Do not engage! They belong to an S-level ninja! Repeat! Do not engage! If you see another, flee with your charges!"

Mitsu's eyes widened, looking over to the man. S-level? She was just a high B herself, and that was when she was going all out. "We can't engage him!" Mitsu said, mask only betraying the emotion in her voice and not her scared face.

Sasuke pointed to her. "See, dobe? We can't do this!" Sakura nodded, agreeing with both Sasuke and the ANBU stranger.

Naruto shook his head in disbelief. "Why not? He's just a challenger! We can't lose!" A bit of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's chakra spilled from him, changing his appearance. Naruto glared at Orochimaru, who still smiled mildly. "We won't back down!" Naruto ran forth, engaging the Grass ninja. He rushed around the man, using his speed to make the man dizzy. However, Naruto found himself snatched up, Mitsu rushing forth to help.

"I'm not a big fan of foxes, so," Orochimaru commented, fingers lighting up as his tongue slipped out to lift Naruto's shirt. "Here-"

He was cut short by Mitsu biting viscously into his neck, shifting her weight to kick the hand that held Naruto. The blonde boy fell back, catching his breath as Mitsu and Orochimaru fell backward.

"Mitsu!" Naruto called out, jumping down after them.

"Brat!" Orochimaru hissed as they fell, shifting their weight so that he landed on top of her. He summon a snake, this one thin and venomous, to attack Mitsu, who was paralyzed on the ground. The snake poised to strike and did, biting into Mitsu's covered neck.

"Ah!" she screamed.

Sakura got up, crying. "Sasuke! Help them! He's killing her!"

Sasuke's eyes widened, watching as Naruto engaged Orochimaru again only to knocked out. Mitsu twitched on the ground before being kicked by Orochimaru. He couldn't handle this he couldn't-he had to. He remembered his promise, fist balling up. His sharingan activated and he shared a look with Mitsu. He ordered her to stay down, to protect Naruto only if needed. From here on out, it was solely the last Uchiha. He hoped he would not die today; he had things to take care of.

Orochimaru climbed back up the tree as gracefully as a garter snake, arriving on the branch with Sasuke. "Well, just you two no-"

He was cut off by an explosive kunai, which he dodged easily. Sasuke threw more, herding the unknowing Orochimaru into a better position. The boy got out razor wire and explosive tags, rushing around while faking as if he were attempting to engage the man. Before Orochimaru realized it, he found there were wires all around him.

"Hm?" he asked before Sasuke jumped back.

Sasuke tugged, the wires slamming Orochimaru back into a tree. Sasuke's heart thumped wildly as he formed the needed hand signs to attack with the Dragon's Flame. Sasuke continued panting even after the flame ignited on the ninja and the tree, stood alert until it dimmed to flames. He relaxed, allowing his sharingan to deactivated as his foe appeared dead. Maybe he was stronger than he-

"Watch out!"

Sasuke's eyes widened as another ANBU member, coated in a chakra armor similar to Mitsu's, appeared, holding the Grass Ninja's new face in his fiery palm, keeping those vile fangs at bay.

The ANBU boy threw the head away, watching it swing as Sasuke shook. More ninja appeared, some of them down below with Mitsu and Naruto.

At the forefront of them were three ninja, unmasked, that Sasuke knew. The first, looking angry from her posture, was Anko, the proctor. The second was the Third Hokage, standing solemn. The final was their teacher, Kakashi. He stood on alert as the mysterious Grass ninja returned to its place.

The Grass ninja shed Sasuke's bindings, ripping the meal wire from Sasuke's hands with a wince of pain and a slight shedding of blood from the boy.

"All of this, just to protect these?" Orochimaru questioned. He looked down to his former teacher and his pupil.

"You monster!" Anko shouted before engaging the man.

Sakura watched all this with horrror. More ANBU jumped in. Kakashi appeared by Sakura's side, Naruto in hand. He must have flickered to get him. The mysterious ANBU member was holding the ANBU girl from earlier, though his red aura was gone. "Master Kakashi," Sakura cried out before leaning on him. He held Sakura against his side, letting her cry.

Sasuke walked over, still amazed. "So, I guess this calls off the Chunin Exams," Sasuke said, moreso to get it through his own head than anyone else's.

As the ANBU continued assaulting Orochimaru, Kakashi nodded. "Let's get out of here," he said. One more ANBU member appeared, this one with a bird mask, to help escort Team Seven plus the injured ANBU member away.

Mitsu came through in a hospital room, mask gone and dressed only in a thing gown. She sat up, disoriented. She looked around the room, finding her brother sitting on the couch, dozing lightly. She smiled, then panicked. She looked around, but saw a letter next to her. She opened it, reading that it was a in the cipher language she and her brother had come up with. Translated, it said:

Mitsu,

Cloud found you on the ground. You were paralyzed. The captain said you did an excellent job protecting Naruto and Sasuke, especially against someone out of your league. He says after you recover, we will begin training anew, this time with Sasuke as a new member to our personal squad.

Mitsu we're going to war, I think. It turns out the guy you fought was Orochimaru; he said he had allies. We've cancelled the Chunin Exams. We're currently arranging ways to make sure all the genin and jounin, plus all the ambassadors get home safe. The captain says he's making the force keep a special eye on any ninja from the Sand Village.

Naruto is recovering okay. They're looking into what's going on with the seal on his stomach, some specialist or something. Sakura's fine. Sasuke's fine, he's at headquarters.

Orochimaru is one of the Three Legendary Ninja. They're old, older than me and you and just barely younger than the Third Hokage. He's powerful, Mitsu. He got away. I'm kind of worried. Wake me up when you wake up, if I'm still there. If not, head to the headquarters so we can rendezvous for a patrol.

Mitsu stepped up, gingerly getting out of bed. She walked over to her brother, touching him to awake him.

Hoshi opened his eyes, then smiled. "Well, glad to see you're awake. You were out for a day and a half," he informed her.

"That explains why I'm so hungry."

The duo filled all the paperwork to get Mitsu released, then stopped by to grab some tofu and azuki beans. They then returned to headquarters, where Sasuke waited in the lobby.

"What's he doing in uniform?" Mitsu asked, blatantly pointing at the Uchiha boy. He was clothed as an ANBU member save his mask, which was a minimalist tiger design, a small 'x' between the eyes marking it with Sasuke's codename.

"He's been training while you were asleep," Hoshi explained. "He's not full fledged, but with the war coming up, he's been ranking up fine." The redheaded male walked on. "We need to get suited up ourselves." Mitsu nodded then followed.

Shortly after, the trio reported to one of the gates around the village.

"Any signs of approaching forces?" Hoshi asked.

"Nothing, Circle," one of the chunin on gate watch duty responded.

Mitsu walked to the edge of the tower's balcony, scanning the horizon. She watched for a moment as the young pro and the trainee conversed, gathering information of the wind and the local whispers. She gripped the railing more tightly as she saw the forest's trees give way. Whatever was coming was bit-and looked like an overgrown anaconda in coloring. "Guys!" Mitsu said, turning around. "We've got a big snake approaching."

"Crap! Cross, Burst, you two head into town to go alert every able shinobi for battle! I'll stay here with the gate monitors to make sure everything goes according to plan!" Hoshi nodded to the current gate watchers as they recovered from the shock of the sudden approaching invasion. Hoshi hefted himself out of the station and ran across the wall enclosing the village as Sasuke and Mitsu in turn exited, jumping from roof to while yelling out "CODE BLACK, CODE BLACK!" which was the village-wide signal for civilians to move to the panic shelters and for all ninja to come out to fight. The genin would generally go guard the civilians and students, the chunin would each find a jounin to operate under in squads, and the ANBU would go from fight to fight as needed for back up.

As soon as Mitsu saw other ANBU gathering up forces, she grabbed Sasuke's collar. "Alright, we go back to fight the snake now."

Sasuke hesitated. Last time they had fought a snake, they all almost ended up dead. Still, if he didn't do this, everyone he valued would die, or at least risk major injury. He nodded, following her as they rushed back in the direction of the original signal. Already, they could see smoke and debris. Thankfully, nearly no civilians lived right by the wall, it all being shops and such. People still scurried to exit, some limping and dragging the freshly killed.

"Bastards," Mitsu growled out. She began activating her chakra reserves as Sasuke activated his sharingan. The duo arrived as the first snake slithered through the opening, diving face first into the surround buildings. "Die!" Mitsu yelled as she jumped on to its head, beginning to claw her way into its skull only to be stopped by Sasuke jerking her away.

"Two heads," he half-yelled as the second head smacked into the first, a move that only stunned the snakes whereas it would have killed Mitsu. "We're going to have to be more tactful," he responded as they jumped down among the belly of the beast. Sasuke pulled out a few kunai, dragging them along the belly to cause the beast to bleed. Mitsu followed suit, her own deeper claws causing organs to spew forth.

Satisfied with the dying writhing of the beast, they prepared to go down to the second snake.

"Gah!" Mitsu yelled, her mask slipping off with the suddenness of her exit from earth. The dying snake lifted her by her foot, tossing her into the air. Mitsu grabbed at the nothing. Suddenly, she wished she knew a few wind-oriented jutsu. Darn her pyromaniac ways! Soon, she saw Sasuke avoiding following her fate as she began falling down. The half-fox tried changing her position so she would land on the slightly softer snake rather than the ground, but was instead slammed by the dying reptile's tail and sent flying into the distance.

"Burst!" Sasuke yelled before jumping out of the way of the mortally wounded creature. He grunted as more chunin and jounin arrived to aid him in dispatching this beast. He felt a kunai whiz past his head, looking up to realize that there were invading ninja now. They looked to be Grass and Sand ninja. Sasuke cursed.

Hoshi let loose a horrible roar as he ran through a mass of ninja. Using a jutsu of his own creation, he turned his chakra tails into twin lightning blades. He sliced through enemies, sending their half bodies sprawling. The red haired hybrid's eyes narrowed in on a powerful approaching enemy. "Get!" he ordered before rushing forward the push the other off the roof top they were fighting on.

"Burst!" a fellow ANBU agent called. "We've got a situation!"

Behind his mask, Hoshi grimaced. Duh. He slashed into another few enemies as the other agent did as well. "Tell me about it!" he retorted.

"No, no, the Hokage's life is in danger!" the bird masked man replied.

"What?" Hoshi bellowed before squatting. He gathered up his energy before releasing it in wind form, creating a blast of air powerful enough to push all the surrounding ninja away from him. The male jumped up to the bird mask's side, both of them panting. "Let's go!"

The bird mask nodded and then the two of them quickly rushed off to go aid their leader.

Mitsu's eyes fluttered as she slowly came to. She looked around; the world seemed to be spinning around her.

"Ah!" came a feminine cry.

Mitsu stood up, shaking slightly with the effort. She looked up from the alley she had fallen into see a blonde girl and her cousin fighting off several ninja as a larger boy laid on the ground, obviously in pain.

Mitsu staggered forward, activating her natural defense. "Hey!" the girl growled out, catching the attention of those who thought she was dead on arrival. "Fight someone your own level! Leave the genin alone!" Mitsu ran forward, clumsily but with the ability to send the attackers back. She swallowed vomit that threatened to flow forward as she backhanded the last attacker.

"Shikamaru, she's gonna fall!" called out the blonde.

Shikamaru rushed over, catching Mitsu as the red chakra dissipated and the hybrid resorted to panting desperately out of pain. "Thanks," Shikamaru replied hastily, himself also out of breath. This team had been covering for the escape of a few kids and some elderly men. A large man arrived down behind Shikamaru. "Master Asuma," Shikamaru said, "I think she's got the sense knocked out of her."

"You always were the bright one," Mitsu retorted lowly with a roll of her eyes only to wince upon rolling.

"Hm? Have we met?" Shikamaru asked as he carried Mitsu and Asuma took up Chouji, all five of them moving toward the hospital, which was becoming quite the fortress.

Mitsu ignored Shikamaru. She grinned at the blonde. "Hey, beautiful, what's your name? Maybe I'll meet an angel like you soon "

The girl flared. "Don't talk like that! You're just hurt, not dying, stupid!" She blushed, looking off. "I'm Ino, though."

Mitsu grinned, beginning to fade out again. "Ino? What a pretty na " and with that, she was in dream land again.

"Lord Hokage!" Hoshi called out as he felled another one of Orochimaru's Sound Four. This particular fellow, huge and powerful, was challenging. He appeared able to absorb chankra, which wasn't much of a problem as Hoshi had the reservoirs of two powerful jounin, but it was beginning to wear on the boy. The half-fox glared at his opponent before beginning his electric tail technique to fruition again. "Move it!" Hoshi growled out. Other ANBU were arriving to help the Hokage; he wouldn't let the village leader down, darn it!

"No today, little man," the other replied, picked Hoshi up by his neck as the boy buried the chakra tails into the Sound ninja's sides. The ninja contorted, hand in turn crushing Hoshi's windpipe. The ANBU hybrid released a horrible scream before his breath was cut off. The attacker fell to the ground, smoking horrible and land on top of Hoshi. Hoshi clawed at his crushed neck as life slowly began to fade out of him. His world went black as a body was flung away from him, relieving pressure.

"Circle!" bird mask called. He removed his mask, revealing a surprisingly soft face. "Circle! We save the Hokage! Orochimaru's dead! They were able to make the One-Tailed's container calm down! We won!" Bird mask panicked as Hoshi only grinned as his body went still. "No! Come on! What about Mitsu?"

Hoshi choked, grinning crookedly as he gave up on breathing. He shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head, a wordless way of conveying his usual sorry routine. Hoshi convulsed a final time before falling still.

Bird masked stepped forward. There were no sounds of celebration. This win had come at a high price: dead ninja, dead civilians, broken lives, and a broken city. He kneeled by Hoshi's body, picking up the boy's fallen mask and placing it back on. Soon, there would be mass funerals. Hoshi, however, would get a place of honor among the fallen elite. Bird mask would see to it. 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Mitsu sat in her new apartment. She and Sasuke had been dispatched from the ANBU. Apparently, the ANBU entirely was being dissolved into general rankings. She was now a jounin. A nice position, but it came as a clean cut. She would get a whole new life, a life where she would not see the loss of her beloved brother so often. She sighed, looking over to Hoshi's picture on a shrine within on of the rooms she had deemed "off limits".

She looked on the TV, idily watching shows as she spent her off day doing what she had come to do in the weeks following the attack: mope. She wondered why she hadn't taken up her Uncle Shikaku's offer to join them in the Nara compound. With her newly revealed ancestry, Shikamaru often came to visit her along with Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke.

Speaking of which, a soft knock came at her door.

"Coming," Mitsu said morosely. She opened the door, surprised to see the crowd before her. It consisted of Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon, the Third Hokage, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Kiba. Mitsu blinked. "Uh hi?" They couldn't all fit in her apartment.

Moegi, obviously the ringleader, giggled before stepping forward. "We're all going to throw a party in the training grounds! It would be great if you could come!" Moegi stepped forward, hugging Mitsu's tummy before back pedaling. "Ew! Mitsu, have you been bathing right?"

It was so strange to get used to everyone using her real name instead of Hikari. Mitsu sniffed her shirt. When was the last time she bathed? She grinned sheepishly. "That sounds nice." She stepped back, ready to shut the door. "Just give me a minute to get read, okay?" Sakura and Ino stepped forward.

"We'll help," Ino said simply.

Sakura nodded. "We all need a little pick me up!"

Mitsu allowed them to enter before closing the door as everyone milled away. Mitsu went to go quickly take a bath and prep, though once she exited the bath, Ino came to help her pick out her clothes.

"It's been a while since you've visited with Shikamaru," Mitsu noted, recalling how awkward their last meeting had been. Mitsu, having been on one of her better days, attempted to flirt with Ino only to get shot down horribly.

Ino nodded, pulling out a pretty dress of Mitsu's that was surprisingly similar the one Ino was wearing. They were fairly similar: both girly, a little headstrong, blonde/white haired, and were keen on making sure those around them were living to the fullest. "Yeah, I've been thinking," Ino responded as she reached for a few accessories. They were dressed highly similarly. "I I'm not sure about my sexuality."

Mitsu nodded, willing to wait for Ino. "I'm openly bisexual, but I can understand if the whole "girl on girl" thing is new."

Ino shook her head. "No, like, I'm not sure how my sexuality fits into this my likes." Ino looked over to Mitsu, blushing. They were both fully dressed now; if Mitsu's hair was blonde and Ino's skin was a shade of mocha and their eyes were both either blue or yellow, they would be twins. "I, well, you and everyone else know how I feel about Sasuke." Ino lifted a hand, grinning. Mitsu hesitated, then lifted her own to intertwine her fingers. "But, I've found myself to admire you as well. You're beautiful, strong, a little mysterious," Ino lead off.

Mitsu nodded. "And you're having trouble deciding between us?" She always figured Sasuke would be a bro and help her get girls or get to know guys, not steal them from her. However, if this would make her friend happy and the girl she liked happy, Mitsu would step back.

Ino bit her lip then batted her eye lashes. "How do you feel about three-way relationships?"

Sakura, waiting in the other room with music selections, jumped as resounding "What?" echoed through the house.

The three girls approached the party as it was in full swing. They spied Hinata and Neji off in a corner, mostly muttered to themselves as Tenten came back and forth from the dance floor to try to encourage them to get out and enjoy the festivities. Asuma and Kurenai were utterly owning the area dedicated to dancing. Kakashi attempted to keep up with Guy, being rescued by Anko on more than one occasion. The Third Hokage sat on a tall chair above it all with Jirayia to his side, though no one knew the mysterious sennin. The smaller children mostly paraded around on the dance floor in a conga line led by none other than Rock Lee.

Sakura rushed off, eager to party it up with the other young girls.

That left Mitsu and Ino, the new couple. Sakura had been taken off guard, then congratulated them. The pink haired girl didn't know the last part of their supposed triage courtship, but they had hinted it would include another. Seeing how political marriages were still common enough in the village, she simply assumed they were both after a guy.

"Can you believe she suggested Shikamaru?" Ino muttered as the girls semi-waltzed their way through the dance floor.

"Well, we're cousins. If I'm attempting to become a Nara-which, uh, I'm kind of not interested in too much-that would be the quickest path." As they passed by Shikamaru, who appeared to be dancing with some girl neither Ino nor Mitsu knew, they offered a quick wave but continued on their path. They giggled as Kiba, who was currently fighting with the DJ over control of the booth, winked at them and asked for a song suggestion.

"Any favorites?" he yelled over the system, forcing the older teen who was jockeying the discs to the ground with his spare hand while the other rambled through the various disks. Akamaru was having a grand time swirling the currently playing mixes, though it was all for show. The system was purely digital.

Mitsu grinned as Ino knew what awaited. "Freaky Kicks in the Dark."

"Oh, Maruku Johnce*?" Kiba asked. [ Marc Johnce. He's got some pretty good party remixes. ;^; ] He spun through the system's music, finally zeroing on the song. It began to play.

Mitsu dragged Ino on, having spotted their prey. Sasuke sat in a corner, talking with Naruto as the blonde grinned. Several girls spoke to the blonde. Word had gotten around about Naruto almost literally knocking some sense into Gaara of the Sand, the boy who held mysterious powers. Mitsu wondered how Naruto did that. Had the Nine-Tails helped? Rumor had it that a man with a frog came in at the last minute to help the blonde chase after the redhead.

"Hi, girls!" Naruto called out. He ushered the fans to make room for his buddies. The two sat between him as Sasuke. The music began hitting a high mode. Naruto couldn't resister. "Gah! I said I was gonna sit one out, but it seems like Kiba's music tastes don't suck!" Naruto stood up, almost taking the table with him. He grinned over to his gathered fans. "Wanna dance?"

They almost screamed. Everything their parents had muttered was a lie, they all mused-this boy was a hero and kind of cute! If only he was taller, they all thought. "Yes, Naruto!" they yelled as they followed after him.

Alone at the table with Ino and Mitsu, Sasuke drained the last bit of his soda before cursing slightly. This was going to get awkward-

Why did Mitsu just box him in on his other side?

This got awkward fast.

"Mitsu," Sasuke greeted, looking toward her, "Ino." He looked at them both in turn, trying to casually not show that he was kind of intimidated by having girls so close. Did they both have to wear matching dresses, strapless at that? Ino had a pretty decent sized bust for a twelve-year-old, Mitsu none too shabby either. It didn't help that they felt the need to press their shoulders against his. "What?" he barked, growing uncomfortable.

"Sasuke," Mitsu began, more willing to appear foolish for Ino's sake. Ino was right, Mitsu mused, Sasuke was handsome. If this worked, Mitsu was set forever. She had inherited Hoshi's family's money plus some from her mother. Sasuke was the last living member of a clan and therefore rich-wow, that was shallow. "So, uh, you're the last Uchiha right?"

Sasuke stiffened, visibly offended by the topic. "Yeah," he answered, now leery.

Mitsu nodded. "I'm sorry to be so blunt, but Ino and I were discussing a few things and we came across the subject. Now, with it being just you, how do you ever hope to produce enough heirs to have enough children to even restore the clan?"

Sasuke choked on air. "You pervert!" he yelled, getting up. He pushed Mitsu out of the way, ready to walk away.

Ino stood up as Mitsu regained her footing, grabbing Sasuke's hand. "Hold it right there, mister!" He turned around to face her and Ino almost backed down from the harshness of his glare. "Well, here's the thing. Mitsu and me we want a third person in our relationship. Like, for commitment. You could benefit from something like this and you're our type Think about it, okay!" she finished, throwing his arm away in favor of grabbing Mitsu's.

"Wow, Ino," Mitsu said, laughing as they both walked away from one very shell shocked Uchiha.

Ino and Mitsu met up with Sakura on the dance floor. She was dancing with Lee, who was as coordinated as one would assume a taijutsu genius to be.

"Well, did you talk to him?" Sakura asked. Lee looked over in curiosity, but never missed a beat.

Ino winked. "He's thinking about it," she responded.

Mitsu began to dance with Ino. Ino was much more in rhythm, but Mitsu was more energetic, making it quite the hilarious match. "I don't see why any guy would turn down being with two such beautiful women," Mitsu retorted, for a moment bringing herself so close to Ino the two could almost kiss, but backing off in the last second for their shoulders to slide lightly over the other.

"What?" Lee asked, sputtering. He dipped Sakura as the song suddenly turned slower and more romantic.

Needless to say, Shikamaru, who was now dancing with Hinata of all people, didn't miss the sight of his cousin and his friend dancing together. "It figures you two would get together. Ino's loud, Mitsu's louder. Mitsu's bossy, Ino's bossier." He shook his head before twirling Hinata, who was delirious with excitement from being in such a social and fun situation. "You two are about fit to bus," he commented.

"Well, just wish us luck," Ino replied, sticking out her tongue as she and Mitsu span in a circle.

The night went relatively off without a hitch. Mitsu got to meet Jiraiya, a man with knowledge of foxes who offered to tutor both Mitsu and Naruto to better control their chakra. Ino and Sakura learned that the Third Hokage was going to get in contact with an old student of his to teach new medical ninja so the village would be better prepared for war in the future; the two were prime candidates for the new program. Shikamaru was being offered the position of chunin in return for going to the Sand village for an alliance; it turns out they were being used by Orochimaru, recently deceased. Neji, Rock Lee, Tenten, and Mighty Guy would all be going to various locations formerly owned by Orochimaru to help reintroduce the kidnapped ninja to normal life and free the civilians.

As Mitsu walked Ino back to her family home (Mitsu was the stronger of the two and thus took it upon herself to make sure Ino was safe), the two girls laughed over the events. "Can you believe Kiba managed to get a kiss out of Sakura?"

"Can you believe she started fawning over him after it?" Ino burst into laughter.

Mitsu wiped a tear of joy from her eye. "Ah, Naruto's face was the best! Too bad that Naruto and Kiba got into a fight. That party was great. Moegi even got a little kiss from Konohamaru!"

Ino nodded. "Well, Master Kakashi was going to slug Master Guy eventually, so I suppose it's better that it was Kiba versus Naruto, then." Ino frowned. "I still wish Naruto hadn't farted like that during the middle of the fight."

"You're telling me," Mitsu retorted, shaking her head. "You're not the one with the acute sense of smell. I need to remind that kid that dairy expires!" They laughed until they reached the door of Ino's home.

Unceremoniously, Sasuke came flying from the door, landing on his back as a fuming Inoichi stepped from the opened portal.

"You Uchiha bastard!" Inoichi roared, walking over to Sasuke, who simply sat there while looking up to Inoichi, glaring slightly. Sasuke's eyes flickered over to Ino and Mitsu causing him to flush slightly.

Inoichi followed the boy's eye movements. " Ino?" he asked, coming off his rage. He walked over to his daughter, patting her head and then growling at Mitsu. "You! You did this! Fox brat!" Inoichi tried to punch Mitsu, but the girl jumped back.

"Daddy, no!" Ino yelled, grabbing her father's arm.

Mitsu carefully walked over to Sasuke, inspecting him. He had a bruise on his cheek and looked to be bleeding a bit from a cut within his mouth. Mitsu raised a brow as if to ask what had happened, but Sasuke looked away, obviously not willing to tell.

"Ino, they're trying to drag you down! The girl-she's trying to convince you to make yourself some whore! And the boy " the murderous tone of Inoichi's voice left little to the imagination except for the method he would use to kill the perceived threats to his precious daughter.

Ino let go of her father's hand to put her own on her hips. "Daddy, I want to date both of them!" Well, that took Inoichi off guard. "Sasuke was my first love! He's a strong ninja and can provide for me; plus, he's honorable, so I'm not sure what your issue with him is. It's not like you don't have old friends who have more than one wife! And as for Mitsu, maybe I like her, did you think about that? She's strong, too, plus we get along super well! Gosh, Dad, you know, I'm going to grow up one day and start dating all sorts of people. You'd think you'd encourage me to go with the two who could take care of me! Stupid Daddy!" Ino punched at her father's stomach, a blow the man took easily.

Inoichi looked over to Mitsu and Sasuke, who were now by him, awaiting approval. Inoichi realized neither of them really understood the whole dating game or that the two person marriage was more stylish now. Sasuke's parents obviously never had time, while it was probably encouraged that Mitsu never had children and to remove the temptation was not included in on such social things regarding dating. Well then

Inoichi walked away, arms folded. He looked over his shoulder at the three. "We're having a family dinner in a week. Wear something nice." With that, the man gruffed back inside his house to try and explain all of this to his wife.

Ino stood, shellshocked. She got Sasuke and Mitsu? The two of the prettiest, strongest, wealthiest ninja she knew? Score! She grabbed them both in a hug, giggling like mad. "Awesome! After this, we need to plan our first date!"

Sasuke sighed as Ino and Mitsu cheered before joining them. He had never thought of having two girls before, much less one. They had a point though, and he didn't know many people who would willingly be married to the same guy. He supposed it helped that they also liked each other. He wondered what he had gotten himself into, though.

Mitsu was excited. She would get to try to build her own family. They were extremely young and just courting, but if she got this right or even just learned from this, she could become a properly functioning suitor and one day become a mother! She looked forward to it, but right now she just jumped up and down with her boyfriend and 7

Mitsu whirled, sweat dripping from her pours. Her freshly formed whiskers quivered. It had been six months since the invasion of their village. Jiraiya had instilled his teachings into Mitsu and Naruto. The two of them currently trained, making proper use of their respective chakra pools. Jiraiya even taught the two of them some wind jutsu, which was a nice bonus.

"And, stop," Jiraiya ordered. Successfully, the duo had managed to polish a rock with their wind work, which was a feat they had been working on together all week. When they weren't doing that, Naruto was practicing the Rasengan and Mitus was attempting to recreate her brother's twin-electric-tails technique with fire instead. Which is how she discovered her second form. It gave her added fox features and real tails, allowing her to more firmly interact with her surroundings thanks to it.

The duo fell over, panting. Naruto got up first, helping Mitsu up. He blinked. "Hey, Mitsu, didn't you say you weren't going to be able to make it for the fifteenth?"

"Yeah, I won't be here Wednesday," Mitsu responded as she went to go towel off.

Naruto shared a look with their mentor. "Um, Mitsu today is the fifteenth "

"What?" Mitsu screeched. She looked with horror as both Jirayia and the blonde nodded. "Crap!" she yelled as she ran off. She needed a bath and to get dressed and then to get to Sasuke's house! Oh, man oh man oh man! Mitsu burst into her own apartment, hurrying through her routine.

Sasuke tapped a finger on the table of the living room. He had dressed casually as this had become a weekly thing. They get together at someone's house if they were all in town from missions and just catch up and bond. He had gone through all the effort of picking up some really nice take out and Mitsu had the nerve to show up late? The thirteen-year-old stewed as Ino took another look in his direction from over the magazines she had recently begun to keep up in the boy's house.

A month ago, Sasuke had asked them along with several other friends to help him move back into the Uchiha compound. Ino wondered why. With how fidgety Sasuke was, she wondered if he would tell them tonight. That would be interesting. She wanted to know what was going on.

"Sorry, guys!" Mitsu yelled as she entered the house. Her hair was still slightly damp.

"What took so long?" Sasuke barked out. "You're fifteen minutes late!"

Mitsu shrugged. "I, um, got caught up with training!" She winked. "I think you two will like it! I'll definitely show you later!"

Ino sighed. "I worry about you two: all this training. What's it all for?"

Sasuke hesitated, no longer springing to his usual reason. He hadn't used it in over a month.

Mitsu sat down at the table as Sasuke and Ino migrated in that direction. "So I can protect my two dumplings, of course," Mitsu replied with an unnecessary amount of smooshing noises.

Sasuke allowed them to chat as he went into the kitchen to get the plates and dishes out. He placed four plates on the table, earning looks of curiosity from the girls. Ino's meal was prepared according to her diet. Mitsu's was mostly azuki bean centered things with some fried tofu. Sasuke had chosen a vegetable plate. The last plate was surprisingly bland looking, consisting of plain rice and miso soup with only a very basic salmon roe sushi line to make up for the dullness.

"Let's eat," Sasuke suggested, ignoring the looks he was receiving. As the girls dug in, he sensed their insecure curiosity. "So, you two know I have a brother, right?"

Mitsu nodded, while Ino looked on blankly. Mitsu only knew because of reports and Sasuke's stories. Ino knew through Sasuke's stories, but didn't think it was something to be brought up over dinner.

"What if I told you before there was the ANBU, there was another organization named Akatsuki? And what if I told you it was responsible for my clan's wipe out?" Mitsu and Ino barely avoided choking. Sasuke used that opportunity to finish up. "Itachi is part of Akatsuki and after wiping out the imposter among them, he has been able to return home!"

Speaking of which, the man stepped through the door just then, giving Mitsu and Ino a polite nod before sitting down. "You're not really good at introductions, Sasuke."

Sasuke crossed his arms as both girls sat in shock. "I could have just let you sit on the couch and let them attack you."

Itachi nodded. "I suppose some word of warning rather than a personal introduction would have been better between us?" He looked at the girls, frowning a bit. "Stop that, please."

Mitsu stopped, nudging Ino. "So, um, Itachi is it? Yeah nice to meet you, I guess? I suppose I prefer this Itachi and a happy Sasuke to what was before "

Ino nodded. "I'm curious as to the story behind this, but if Sasuke accepts you, there must be a happy ending!"

Sasuke grinned a bit. "I'm glad you didn't flip out. I won't tell you the reasoning just yet, but trust me. Itachi is a good guy. He even reunited your mentor Jiraiya with a former pupil of his."

"Wait, you brought the blue haired girl and the skinny guy back to Pervert Boss?" Mitsu inquired. Itachi merely nodded. "Wow. What a miracle worker."

Itachi looked over Mitsu. "And what about you? Have you worked any miracles of your own? You're lucky to be alive, you know."

Mitsu looked away, leaning on Ino slightly. "I keep forgetting you knew stuff like that." She sighed. "Well, good news is, no one sees me as a threat. Bad news is they don't think I can handle my dad."

"He's a full blooded demon, nine tailed at that," Sasuke explained. "Mitsu, you would need at least four more of you." He shook his head. "But don't worry about it. Itachi and I are working to make sure you, Ino, and I can have a happy life."

Ino smiled. "Good, back to our relationship!" Ino looked over to Itachi. "So, is it okay if we refer to you as big brother?"

Itachi raised a brow. "Isn't that going a little quickly."

Mitsu grinned deviously. "Oh? So Sasuke hasn't told you how far he's gotten?"

"That's hardly polite dinner conversation," Sasuke retorted before stuffing some leaves into his mouth.

Mitsu took a bite of tofu. "Funny, that's what you said then, too."

"Okay then!" Itachi said, desperate to get off that subject. "So, um, how serious are you guys?" Ninja lived short lives, normally. Ninja could get married at age sixteen if they desired, but most waited until they were thirty or so as that was when one could be considered "retired" and have their pick of missions when they chose to act. All three of the ninja before Itachi were no where near thirty.

Sasuke closed his eyes, lowering his chop sticks. "We've talked it over. We've decided to wait until we are all fourteen before deciding anything. Ino and I want to try and gain a rank even with Mitsu while she's trying to wait a while so she can study up on her species sexuality. But, more or less," Sasuke paused for dramatic effect, "we're in this for the long haul."

Itachi nodded. "Good. Name a niece after our mother, okay, Sasuke?"

Sasuke nearly choked.

Mitsu went misty eyed. "What was your mother's name?"

"Mikoto," he answered, the very air taking on a mystical air. "She was a sweet woman. She she's kind of the only other reason I can live with myself." Itachi looked over to Sasuke, who was fighting back forming tears. "You know, aside from my brother."

Ino was sobbing quietly. "Aw, guys, let's finish dinner then move to the living room! This-I can't eat with this being talked about!"

Mitsu patted Ino as Sasuke sighed while shaking his head. "We've got to know these things, Ino. We have to carry each other's burdens if we're going to be a proper triad."

After dinner, Ino and Mitsu were mystified to learn of Uchiha stories. Itachi explained a little of the Nine-Tail's attack on the village, explaining it was a rogue Uchiha imposter who caused the blame to be placed on the clan who in turn decided to turn on the village. Itachi was tasked with wiping them out, but could not bring himself to murder Sasuke. He explained Mitsu's condition, stating during his travels he learned various rare knowledge, but that he would keep them to himself to spare her the pain knowing such things has caused him. He simply told Ino that her clan was good and proud, but tended to get caught up only in things that concerned them.

After a bit, Itachi left the trio to their own devices.

Ino cuddled up between Sasuke and Mitsu as the three of them watched the news. "Sasuke," she said, earning a grunt from the boy, "I'm glad you're not alone any more but, are you still wanting to be in a relationship with both of us? I know we originally goaded you in because it-"

Sasuke put a hand over Ino's mouth, looking over to her and then Mitsu. "No. If at first I was going to try to learn to love you guys, I I guess I did." He pulled them both close, planting a kiss on each of their foreheads. "I love both of you."

Ino latched onto his neck with one arm, the other pulling Mitsu into a hug. Mitsu wrapped her arms around both of them as she two expressed relief. Sasuke let them simply lay on his chest and lap, happy they were still interested in staying. 


End file.
